The world’s most popular plumber seems to be coming back with a bang, and soon. Speculation about a spring release for Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. is spreading around the internet, as a consequence of some statements made by Nintendo Germany’s general manager, Bernd Fakesch. He also mentioned that the spring 2014 release period is only targeted for Wii U and does not include the 3DS.
This news could not be better for Wii users, as the Nintendo console had been shadowed by the recent releases of Sony’s Playstation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One. Of course, the rumors are not official and confirmed, as Nintendo officials have declared to elaborate on the subject, stating that “Nintendo has nothing to announce at this time”.
There is no doubt these titles are crucial for Nintendo’s success next year. If anything, the last generation titles of the two franchises sold quite well – over 30 million copies for Mario Kart Wii and over 10 million copies for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
The news about Mario Kart 8’s release doesn’t really come as a surprise, as the game had been aiming at an early 2014 release anyway. However, we have had no such information about Super Smash Bros. and the news may or may not be true. We’re not sure if it makes sense (from a marketing point of view) for Nintendo to release both key players at the same time, basically setting up competition between it’s own titles. Still, Nintendo does need to move fast and decisively if it intends to stick to the initial plan of selling over 9 million consoles by the end of March 2014.
There’s not much information to fall back on when it comes to Super Smash Bros., apart from the E3 gameplay video.
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As far as Mario Kart 8, we have more to rely on, as gameplay videos have been emerging since last summer. The game looks polished enough to be released this spring, that’s for sure. Let’s just hope the same applies for Super Smash Bros. as well.
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